Add a new page

Log Info

Title: New Kid in Town pt 2Emitter: {$emitter}Characters: Amy, EsheNPCs: {$npcs}Place: Eshe's RoomTime: Late nightSummary: Amy and Eshe talk about their pasts and presents during a little sleep over on Amy's first night at the Institute

( Eshe's Room - Jones Hall - Steranko Institute )

This dorm room could best be described as Spartan. It is rather plain, the standard 12' by 12' area with a small corner desk upon which are neatly stacked text books, mostly related to history aside from the single tome marked 'Algebra'. The bed is a simple single bed with institutionally white sheets. The bookshelf is bare aside from a gold statue of a cat with a green gem embedded in its forehead just above and between its blue eyes. The curtains covering the windows are open wide, the blinds pulled all the way to the top to let the sunlight shine in during the day with a clear view of the night sky afterward. Hanging on the back of the door is a full-length mirror, simple, rectangular and about 5 feet high.

Beneath the other window which not above the bed, is a small table upon which rests a golden statue of a woman, obviously Egyptian holding an ankh in one hand and a flail in the other. Surrounding her are little incense pots filled with the burned remnants of incense sticks. To one side is a BBQ lighter, the butane kind with the switch while on the other side is a stack of fresh incense sticks.

The closet is packed with clothes, mostly jeans and black tank tops but with a few black skirt, a little black dress, some denim miniskirts and a white T-shirt, all on hangers. On the shelf above is a small box filled with gold jewelry; bracelets, headbands, earrings, necklaces and ankle bracelets. Beneath the hanging clothes are three pairs of shoes, all of them practical running shoes and a pair of sandals with a strap that wraps around the ankle.

In short, this room is sparsely decorated but cozy and obviously lived in. What is noticeably missing are any electronics. No television, no telephone, no computers or even a clock or radio. It looks like whoever lives her owns nothing technological.

_

"Heh, You sure?" Amy asks Eshe simply. "I mean, I don't wanna put you out or anything. The couch is fine. Slept on a _ton_ of 'em." she smirks, shrugging dismissively. "But if you _are_ serious, I can throw in a sweetener." she winks. "You ever seen The Terminator before?"

You say, "Is that a person?" Eshe seems a bit confused, "Sounds like the name of one of your 'villains'." She wonders what you mean to offer her but she chuckles. "And I do not mind at all. You stay with me and tomorrow we can find your real dorm when the rain lets up."

"It's a movie!" Amy grins, shuffling over to retrieve her backpack and pulling out the DVD. "It's about …eh…..the future…sort of…" she explains. "C'mon, I'll play it for ya. Got the Director's Cut." she beans proudly, the kind of pride that comes with owning something long desired. "Got a lot of good ones. Mac took me on a shopping spree in Best Buy. Most of this backpack's DVDs!"

"Oh Movies!" Eshe lights up. "I haven't seen many of them except on the Television box. I watch that a lot between classes though, especially the History channel." She gets up out of her seat and strolls towards the doors. "Ready to sprint across to the dorms?""

Eshe leads Amy back to her room and opens the door. She leads the other girl inside and then closes the door, gathering some fresh clothes and handing them to her new friend. "Here you go, dry clothes. I'm sorry I don't have a lot of modern things but a lot of that stuff still puzzles me. My room is warm and dry though and the bed is very comfortable. If we want to watch movies, I could borrow a TV from a friend. Or we could just talk. I love to hear tales of other places, such as where you are from." She gets some extra sheets and a fresh pillow from her closet as well, preparing to get ready to sleep on the floor.

"Heh, thanks." Amy replies, taking the clothes and starting to shuck her wet shirt without seeming to think much about getting half naked in front of a stranger. "Clean and dry suits me right down to the ground." she replies, kicking off her shoes to slither out of her jeans. "New clothes and me aren't something that usually goes together. Well, 'cept for these." she chuckles, pointing down to her Tasmanian Devil boxers. "Sometimes I can't resist."

"All clothes are new to me," Eshe states, then chuckles and clarifies, "Well, all of the kinds of clothes you are used to. It took me months to figure out how a bra is supposed to work and not feel too restrictive." Seeing Amy disrobe, she does the same, getting her nightclothes out and slipping into a rather sheer, short, shiny teddy. Spreading out her bedroll on the floor, she sits down in what would be described as 'Indian Style' and faces the bed, ready to just spend some time in 'girl talk' with someone for the first time in ages. "This is the first time I have ever had someone over to my room. I hope it is not too boring for you."

"No, no, it's fine." Amy replies, finishing dressing and finally settling down Indian style on the floor next to Eshe. "Thanks for having me over." she adds. "So, eh..you asked about where I was from?" she inquires. "City in Florida called Jacksonville. It's on the Atlantic coast, not the Gulf." she clarifies, holding her two hands up so that one is perpendicular to the floor and the other is horizontal. "Okay, say this is Florida." she says. "Right about where my thumb is would be Jacksonville."

Eshe nods, remembering the map of the United States she's seen. "I see. Tell me about Jacksonville. What is it like? What are the people like? What do you do for fun there?" She listens with rapt attention, apparently curious about every little detail of even the most mundane thing. She takes off her headband and puts it on the shelf beneath her window, making sure the blinds are open and the windows cracked to let the cool night air in. Her loose hair blows a bit in the breeze and she takes off her bracelets and necklace, setting them ceremonially on the little shrine.

"Eh…heh…well…lemme think about it for a minute." Amy replies, sipping at her drink. "Well, we have a _lot_ of Navy in town. One air base, and a ship base with a _lot_ of ships in it." she begins uncertainly. "We have a football team, the Jaguars, but they…heh, they pretty much suck." she grimaces playfully. "Got some nice beaches, Atlantic, Neptune and Ponte Vedra. Get out there as much as I can, but it's a pretty big place, so it's kind of tough to do unless you can get a ride. I don't recommend the buses. You gotta go right through the middle of town and there are some _really_ scuzzy neighborhoods in there. Trust me, I spent a month in one of 'em." she sighs. "It's an okay place, I guess. I mean, I don't have a lot to compare it to so…" she shrugs again. "What about you? I'm thinking Egyptian?" she smirks playfully, cocking an eyebrow. "Just a shot in the dark, you know."

Eshe turns around and chuckles. "Your hometown sounds fantastic. Mine… is, well, so completely different now from when I lived there that it's not the same place at all. When I lived in Cairo, it was so beautiful, with the Pyramids just outside of the city and the Nile running through the middle. Lush fields of grain lined the banks and barges loaded with goods moves up and down the River from the cities to the North and South. My family lived in a lovely villa on the banks, we had our own barge just for traveling around and I used to love to just lie there on the deck, slaves fanning me as I soaked in the sun and flirted with my tutor. For fun we would watch races or see performances of skill or drama. I used to go down to the port and see the ships come in from foreign lands just to see what they were bringing in and to listen to their strange languages. There were a few bad parts of town by the local soldiers kept the peace rather well. No one would date attack me though, to wound a member of the royal family was an instant death sentence. I miss it but… I do not know if I would trade the life I have now for the one I lost. This place is so amazing, so different, so wonderful. There are things of amazement everywhere. People fly now! They have gone to the Moon! They have conquered nature and hold complete dominion over the earth, the sea and even the heavens! I never dreamed such was possible."

Amy is thoroughly brain boggled by that reply and is too new to this place to be capable of even pretending to hide it. "Holy cow…." she comments after a long, awkward moment of awed silence. "You……wait…no…no….You'd have to be like ten thousand years old or something." she says, scooting an inch or two back as she hugs her knees, peering at the other girl with a mix of extreme wariness and interest all bollixed up until it's evident she probably can't tell one from the other.

"No, no," Eshe laughs, running a hand through her hair, "Only 4100 years old. I said I liked the flirt with my Tutor. Well, we fell in love, which was wonderful except that he was a mere commoner, a scribe and scholar while I was a Cousin to the Pharaoh himself and betrothed to another of my Cousins, who was a general in the Pharaoh’s army. While my intended was a mighty warrior and had won many battles in his career, he was a cruel man 15 years my Senior and a terrible Brute with many battle scars and rough, calloused hands. In contrast, my beloved was gentle and careful, the most attentive lover one could ask for and intelligent and thoughtful. We planned to run away together but were caught by my Cousin…" She looks down a little, her features lost in shadow.

"Oh…only forty one hundred years…" Amy replies, nodding vaguely. "Heh, well, Holy Hoppin' Hebrews…that just makes it old hat then, don't it?" she giggles nervously, shaking her head a little. "So you guys really did all of that cousin marrying stuff?" she asks. "Please don't tell me your parents were brother and sister….that's just……~eyuch!~" she says, pulling a face. "But yeah, I'm guessing the whole 'hot for teacher' thing didn't go down too hot with your intended….or the Pharaoh." she adds, wincing a little. "I'm guessing they went more than a little mental on you?"

"Yes, they did." Eshe balls her hands into fists and swallows hard. "We were taken prisoner and my beloved with stripped naked, bound and tossed into the Nile… with the Crocodiles. They were not so merciful with me. Being a Cousin to the Pharaoh, I was given a much harsher sentence. They brought in a powerful Sorcerer and he cursed me with something called 'The Curse of Living Death'. I was locked in a tomb, conscious but unable to change, unable to learn or breathe or eat or drink, unable to even sleep. I was locked in the grief of losing my love for 40 centuries. Unable to get over it or even to experience the relief of madness. Unchanging for all that time."

"Shit." Amy breathes, looking down at her own knees for the longest. "I'm sorry, Eshe." she says simply, something in her voice making it clear that Amy, if not capable of truly understanding what this girl's been through, has had enough nasty knocks to be truly sympathetic. "How'd you get out?" she asks quietly.

Eshe smiles at the sympathy and sits back down. "An expedition from the Egyptian Ministry of Antiquities found my tomb in the Valley of the Sorcerer and opened it. The light of Ra fell upon me and shattered the curse. I was freed, freed from the grief, the curse, the unchanging state. I fell to my knees and wept. I think they were more shocked to see me than I was to see them. They took me to a Coptic Monastery to learn of this new world and teach me modern language and customs. To make a very long tale short, I did not like the restrictions they tried to place on me and fled. Of course, by this point I had learned that I had not only been Cursed but Blessed. The goddesses had smiled on me for following my heart rather than the dictates of men and given me powers and abilities to be their Champion should I ever be freed. Now that I am free, I use those abilities to aid others in torment and punish the guilty. I find myself fortunate now, to have lived so long and found a new world to belong to. Someday, I hope to be able to blend with your people and feel truly a part of them. I find hope in knowing that so many have come here from so many different cultures and places. Other worlds, other countries. It reminds me of my time in the ports, so many strangers from foreign lands. Only now, I am one of them."

Okay…this is officially a Heavy Shit-type Moment, perhaps the second heaviest in Amy's life, and it shows on her face. "That's one hell of a story, Eshe." she replies, uncoiling her knees from their previous semi-defensive posture. "So, as the oldest person I've ever met, maybe the oldest person I'm ever going to meet." she begins uncertainly, but determined to power through it. "How badly have we cocked things up?" she asks frankly. "I mean, yeah, we fly, we have movies, CDs, computers, even went to the Moon, yadda yadda yadda…But I mean, honestly….sometimes I read history books and wonder what we lost." she sighs. "And what's your take on the whole 'Jihad' thing?" she asks with a smirk. "Must be tough to wake up and find out your country's been taken over by crazies."

Eshe shrugs. "I try not to think of the fanatical Monotheists. I still think of them as blaspheming heretics worshiping a mute god who cares little for them. To see them as the rulers of my home fills me with grief and sorrow but to find your society, which while rather dominated by monotheists, is very tolerant of other beliefs is a beacon of Hope. The establishment of slavery is a change I found shocking at first but have come to see as a good thing, as is the lack of a Pharaoh. To think you choose your rulers by voting really is amazing. I too have read your history and I find that really, people have not changed all that much. Your destructive capabilities may have grown but the desire for power and land, that never changes. Of course, you have also gained in other ways. Diseases that claimed many have been banished. Childbirth is much less lethal now and you have the ability to choose when to have children. You are no longer slaves to your bodies but Masters of them. There have been missteps but the progress more than outweighs the consequences."

"So, in short, 'You're still kind of screwy, but you're your basically okay?'

"So, in short, 'You're still kind of screwy, but you're your basically okay?'" Amy smirks, nodding a little. "Yeah, yeah, I guess I'll take that from someone old enough to be my insanely distance ancestor." she chuckles. "I thought moving _here_ was gonna bring on some culture shock. Now four thousand some odd years…_that_ is culture shock." she smirks. "Nice nightie, by the way." she adds, smiling a little. "You guys always did have a way with clothes." she sighs. "Well, not just Egypt, but all of the Ancients." she muses. "And the Indians…though, I think they're still using a lot of the same kit."

Eshe says, "Oh, I find so many of your clothes to be even more beautiful." Eshe looks over to her closet. "I simply adore denim. It is so resilient and feels good against the skin. Plus, your undergarments are much more comfortable now. Oh and I adore how boys look at me when I wear a pair of low, tight jeans." She giggles at this and winks. "Oh and your boys are so gorgeous. They have all of their teeth and such great style. I could watch them all day and never grow bored."

"Heh, see?" Amy giggles, reaching out to prod Eshe with her foot gently and teasingly. "If y'all had put all of that engineering talent to work on dentistry instead of building tombs, you could've skipped all that." she winks. "I wouldn't know about the underwear situation, like I said before, I don't have much else to compare it to beyond a training bra." she chuckles. "And I thought that was the scourge of Satan for at least six months before my boobs grew into it." she comments, blushing a little. "Oh, can I ask you one question?" she inquires. "Did you guys really shave your heads?" she asks. "A lot of our historians and so forth say you did 'cause of lice problems. But I don't completely buy it."

"Some of us did." Eshe confirms. "Especially the menial laborers and slaves who had more exposure to dust and grime and many of the Soldiers did as well for reasons of not giving an enemy a handhold in combat. I never shaved my head, though I also never suffered from lice because I took good care of myself and used special ointments, perfumes and oils to keep them out. A simple solution distilled from the venom of the cobra and the juices from palm fronds works wonders on keeping your hair free of lice and tingles so wonderfully."

"Mhm! That's kind of what I figured." Amy nods. "If you've got the coins, you've got the treatments." she adds. "But..I think I'll just stick with the over the counter stuff we have now." she smirks. "I got a feeling if you got that palm frond - cobra venom cocktail in your eyes, it would probably not be good."

Eshe nods. "Some went blind from it so we used it very carefully." She lies back on her sheets and stares out the window into the night sky. "So, tell me about you. How did you discover your abilities? How did it change your life?" She looks at the moon and sighs contentedly.

"Well…" Amy begins, stretching out opposite Eshe and folding her arms behind her head. "Not a lot to tell, really." she begins. "Mom bailed on me when I was a kid." she says matter of fact-like. "But she wasn't much of a Mom, so no big loss, right?" she adds. "Make a long story short, I bounced around between foster families a lot….Went into the system when I was in first grade…Some of them, hell, most of them, were pretty cool, or at least trying…Others…not so much." she shrugs diffidently. "Far as my powers go, well, first time I figured out something was odd was when I was about nine? Ten? Something like that. Right after my first period, anyway. I went to take a shower and all of a sudden there was this flash of blue light. Then every circuit breaker in the house tripped." she chuckles. "That happened a _lot_ until I got past the whole puberty thing." she shrugs again. "Mac says I'm an electro-kinetic." she adds, pronouncing the word a syllable at a time. "Basically, I can generate and control electricity and it doesn't hurt me. The Andersen’s dog, on the other hand." she grins wickedly. "Well, let's just say he learned to stop pissing on the metal garbage cans the hard way."

"You know, before I got here, I had no idea what electricity was." She laughs a little. "Lightning was all we knew and that was just a mysterious force from the sky that came every now and then with the rains. Your power would have been seen as godly where I come from. It still boggles my mind that your entire civilization runs on a power I never imagined existed."

"Heh, Eshe, my dear, unplug the modern world from electricity and you'd have panda-frickin'-monium like you cannot _believe_ within a couple days." Amy chuckles. "It's petty much the blood of our entire civilization. Without it….Meh….we'd go shatbit with a quickness. You guys thought frogs and water into blood and the odd first born snuffing it was bad? That would make the whole plagues like a hard week at the office."

"Well, that was all after my time," Eshe admits. "Ramses was a few hundred years after I was imprisoned and I don't entirely believe those old tales. Still, the point is taken." She rolls over to look at Amy. "I am glad I met you tonight. I like to meet new friends and learn about their lives and worlds. Tell me, do you have a love… I mean boyfriend?"

"Eh…I did.." Amy replies, shrugging as though the question was an afterthought. "This big Russian dude named Sacha…" she adds. "But he turned out to be kind of a psycho." she sighs. "So, yeah…he's pretty much history. Shame too." she notes, smiling faintly. "He could throw the leg, as they say. Too bad he was an asshole at heart." she shrugs again. "He's probably still in County. No way he made bail."

"Well, you know of my ex, may he rest in the Afterlife forever." Eshe brightens a bit though as she says, "I am seeing a boy here at school now, his name is Jerry. He has other girls interested in him as well though but that's OK, I love a challenge and winning him is going to be a big one."

"Heh, well, good luck with that." Amy replies, grinning faintly. "You do have a four thousand year head start on the competition in the maturity department." she notes. "So I'd say the smart money's on you." she nods. "So what's the rest of the thundering horde around here like?" she asks simply. "Anybody I need to stay away from?"

Eshe thinks for a minute. "Well, I'd say stay away from Jerry as I don't need the competition but feel free, the more the merrier. As for the other students. I would walk carefully around a girl named Sasha. She can be very mercurial from what I have heard. Also, there are apparently a few mind readers on campus, which worries me. Oh and there is a boy named Adrian who can make your powers go away… he scares me."

"Heh, no worries, I don't snake other girl's boyfriends." Amy chuckles reassuringly. "Besides, to be honest, I'm not really in the market for beefcake at the moment." she shrugs slightly. " Maybe later, once I get my feet under me, but not with Jerry." she adds, something in her tone indicating that Eshe's earned a mark in Amy's Cool Book. "Adrian…okay, stay away from him." she continues. "And mind readers….heh, I dunno….reading my thoughts would probably make their heads explode, so bring 'em on!" she giggles throatily. "What about the Faculty, I already met Ms Dormer, she doesn't seem too bad." she queries. "Any hard asses and or discipline slash control freaks to be aware of?"

"Well, the staff is very nice," The Egyptian Girl replies, her features shadowed by the moonlight playing through her dark hair, making it look strangely silvered, "But look out for the Thunderdome. It's the training facility that can create any environment and put you up against any opponent. They will push you with it to test your limits. It cannot really hurt you but it will make you so sore."

"Thunderdome?" Amy asks, chuckling and sitting up a little on her elbows. "Ha! 'Two men enter, one man leaves!'" she grunts playfully before settling back down. "Good thing the staff's nice, that's a relief. "Thunderdome sounds like it could be kind of fun. They let us program it?" she asks

"They don't let me as I don't even know how to use a telephone but I am sure they would let you give it a try." Eshe rolls over again onto her back and stares at the ceiling, moonlight now reflected in her eyes. "Just don't use the programs made by Tim, he plays rough and turns the safeties off."

"Heh, Eshe, my friend, you're pretty much describing the last nine years of my life." Amy snerks, tossing the girl a playful wink. "Damn sure there were no safeties on when the Mac Attack hit." she smirks, shaking her head and rolling onto her side to face the other girl. "So….what else are you into, besides Jerry and denim and comfy, modern underthings?"

"I like to read. I find books fascinating. We didn't have them when I was younger," Eshe still stares at the ceiling, letting her hair spread out about her head on her pillow. "Especially history and poetry. I also love to play games. Chess is amazing and so complicated. Oh and I love to dance. I just like to go and listen to music and let the beat and rhythm take me where it will."

"Yeah, books are pretty awesome." Amy nods, rolling over onto her back again to join Eshe in the study of the ceiling. "They're like a TV show nobody can tell you not to watch or decide they want to watch something else." she smiles faintly. "Take you anyplace you wanna go….The past…the future…" she sighs softly, tiredly. "Not so much a dancer, here, I can do it, but it's not my favorite, but I _love_ music. Have you ever heard anything by Voivod?" she asks. "I think you'd like them…they're _way_ trippy."

"I do not know many modern musicians," The raven-haired girl admits, "Though I do like the 'Classical' composers quite a bit and there is this music called 'Polka' that appeals to me as well. It has a very danceable beat." Yes, she just admitted to liking polka music with a straight face.

"Heh, I had a foster dad who was really into polka…." Amy chuckles softly. "Not really my thing. But Classical music _fascinates_ me." she adds. "It's something I'd like to learn more about." she says. "Most of the music I'm into's heavy metal."

"Heavy Metal?" Eshe seems confused, not at all familiar with the term outside of her Chem classes, "Like Mercury?" Even in the half-light of the moon, her confused expression is easy to read.

"No, no….nothing to do with actual _metal_ metal." Amy replies easily, stifling a yawn behind her fist. "What I'm talking about tends to be really angry, fast, aggressive music. Kind of like polka if the people playing it were drunk and about to have a fist fight." she chuckles. "You'd have to hear it to really understand it. It's kind of related to Classical music too." she says. "It tends to be, well, the stuff I like, tends to be pretty complicated."

Eshe yawns as well and snuggles into her pillows. "Tomorrow you will have to let me hear it. I am sorry but for now, I need to sleep. It is getting late and… we have a busy day ahead tomorrow. We'll find your dorm in the morning." r

"Yeah….I'm about to fall out over here." Amy confesses. "Thanks for the hospitality, Eshe." she smiles into the darkness, her tone warm and friendly. "We'll watch that movie soon." she promises. "Until then….Sleep easy." she says, giving a long yawn and curling herself into a tight ball, a cat sleeping in the wild.